Human Resources & Social Media | Switzerland

Interview with Hervé Peitrequin, Digital Marketing & Social Media Expert and Track Leader at #TruZurich on 27 March 2014.

I must admit, I don’t remember exactly when I first met Hervé in person. But I definitely remember how we were once sitting outside of the Grand Duke Pub in Geneva and talking about Social Media (of course!), online recruiting, mobile, ads, apps, and lots of other stuff during one of the HR TweetUps.

Hervé is also one of the few Swiss people I know who couldn’t care less about the Rösti Curtain. He seems equally comfortable in the Deutschschweiz and in the Suisse Romande, and will already be in the middle of a discussion in English, French or German while other people are still explaining that they “can’t” speak French or German because they had a terrible language teacher

But I actually wanted to publish an interview with Hervé, not just some random thoughts about somebody I like a lot…

Interview with Hervé Peitrequin

Hervé, you’re a marketing professional. So what do you do, in words that an HR professional like myself can understand?

Hervé Peitrequin: I work at PubliGroupe which is a leading provider of marketing and media sales services in Switzerland and Europe. I am responsible for everything related to digital marketing, being websites, advertizing campaigns or social media.

In easy words: I take care of the image of the company on the web.
Easier to understand?

Yes, I think so. Otherwise I’ll ask you again at #TruZurich on 27 March 2014. And talking about our event, somebody suggested on Twitter that you lead a track at #TruZurich with Michel Ganouchi. You didn’t know each other, but accepted right away. Isn’t this a bit weird?

Hervé Peitrequin: Michel is famous, so I accepted right away!

No just kidding, I knew Michel from reputation as he was CEO of Monster Switzerland, so I thought this guy should have something to say about the subject.

You know, somehow I think that you and Michel are the perfect match for the Marketing/HR track. When I interviewed Michel for my RekrutierungsNews.ch blog in German, he also had a “just kidding” moment. But lets talk quickly about your #TruZurich track:What is the title of your track and what do you expect from the discussion?

Hervé Peitrequin: The title of our track is “What HR can learn from Marketing. And vice versa”.

HR more than any other department are representing their company on the web. In order to attract and retain the best candidates, they have to master marketing techniques. But this is not their core competence.

Coming from marketing, I’m looking forward to exchanging some ideas around what marketing can bring to HR but also from what, as a marketer, I can learn from HR.

About Hervé Peitrequin

Hervé has been working in online marketing for over 10 years for international companies like L’Oreal, Adecco and now PubliGroupe. He’s always focusing on the customer experience but also on increasing and measuring the success of his activities (e.g. through online ads, analytics and SEO).

A QR code on a construction site in Zurich. A minisite with engaging information. And interesting ideas for recruiters.

When I walk home from work I often pass the back of the Werd building in Zurich. And there’s this billboard featuring companies involved in a construction project. But the thing that got my attention is the QR code.

Until now I didn’t really pay attention to it. I assumed that it was one more failed attempt at trying to be cool by using a QR code. I mean, who would scan a QR code that’s 4 meters (approximately 13 feet) up in the air? And would it even work?

Live Testing

Today I simply couldn’t resist anymore. So I took a picture of the billboard from across the road. Yes, I may be (or most certainly am) a QR Geek, but I don’t want to get run over by a car… So here’s the picture:

Then I crossed the road and took another closer (and careful) picture:

I admit that I was surprised, but the QR reader on my Android phone was actually able to read the code and here’s the URL:

What’s really cool, is that the website I accessed was fully mobile-friendly. Here’s the first screen I saw. Okay, the “Geschaeftshaus Morgartenstrasse” was a bit cut off, but that’s a detail:

The first part was a quick history of the building and what they’re intending to do with it. Then they added information about who is in charge of the construction project, who will use it once it’s finished, the budget (8.3 Mio CHF) and how long it will take (until June 2014).

Amongst other things, they show a picture of what the building looked like in the 70s and a mock-up of the offices that will soon be available for rent.

At the bottom of the page they encourage the visitors to share the page with their friends and online contacts through Facebook, Twitter, G+ and Email.

Why Recruiters Should Be Jealous

Nobody cares about construction works. Well, at least until they have to use the back entrance in order to access their office or they sit at their desk and it sounds (and feels) like somebody’s trying to bring down the whole building with a drill (trust me, I knooohoow whaaat it feee-heels liiike…).

But the people working for the City of Zurich managed to make this interesting. If somebody bothers to scan the QR code, they will

get information about what’s going on

learn about the history of the building

see what it will look like once it’s done

be encouraged to share the site with their friends and contacts

Of course, what I totally love is that the website is mobile friendly (QR codes are usually scanned with mobile devices, after all) and they added a call-to-action to share the link on social media.

Now isn’t this what many recruiters are dreaming about?

But It’s Not About Recruiting?!?

No, this has nothing to do with recruiting. Although, they could have added a link to open positions…

But…

you could post a billboard in front of your office with a QR code, maybe even add a picture of the QR code to Foursquare

and then you could create a mobile-friendly page telling the story of your company

and feature some of your co-workers, what they do all day, why they like working for your company and what they expect from their future colleagues

mention your open positions in a way that links to the story of your company and the presentation of your colleagues

add “share” links to social networks

and encourage people to apply, ideally without an online form that takes 30 minutes to complete and has mandatory fields asking for unnecessary information

Now if some state employees could do this for an old and a bit boring building, how hard could it be for a cool company?

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